Italian Riviera 2

This marvelous walk is the second half of of our Italian Riviera walk. It starts in Sestri Levante, a beautiful resort town on the eastern headland of the Tigullio Gulf and finishes at the gorgeous town of Portovenere overlooking the La Spezia Gulf.

This is a walk of two parts: the first three days take you through some of least visited parts of the Ligurian Coast, following well-marked mountain trails through unspoilt forests and staying in laidback coastal towns quite untouched by tourism. The remaining days take you along the trails of the Cinque Terre, one of the most celebrated and spectacular stretches of coastline in the Mediterranean, following stone paths that have linked the fishing villages for centuries.

The highlights of the tour include: strolling around Sestri Levante’s Bay of Silence; the tranquillity of the trails that take you through oak and pine forests on the first two walks; the breath-taking sea views from the ruined tower on Punte Baffe; the lanes of old Levanto; swimming at the Mediterranean beaches; your first views of Vernazza; dinner al fresco on the top of a tower overlooking the port; walking through the vineyards high above the sea; a crisp glass of local Cinque Terre white wine in Riomaggiore; coming down above the cliffs to Portovenere; a moonlight walk to San Pietro at the tip of Portovenere; the boat ride across the gulf for your last walk.

The walks

The trails are well-maintained and clearly marked. The first two walks take you through mountains and valleys covered with beautiful forests with sea views where you will rarely meet another walker. They are quite long but can be shortened by taking one of the regular local trains along the way. The second section takes you along narrow stone paths of the Cinque Terrre. There are some steep climbs up from the villages to the trail and some steep descents at the end.

The walks are from 10 to 14 kms long and can be comfortably done in half a day. This a graded as a Grade 2 walk. Click here for details.

The accommodation

Hidden Italy uses the best accommodation available. On this walk this means very comfortable, centrally located, family-run hotels, a mix of 4-star hotels, 3-star hotels and a simple, family-run ‘pensione’. All the rooms have en suite bathrooms and air-conditioning. Please bear in mind that the places you are visiting are essentially small fishing villages and don't have a range of accommodation options. Some of the hotels have their own swimming pools and their is always the opportunity to swim at beaches along the way.

The food and wine:

Like its inhabitants, the food of Ligurian is austere and reserved, based on the finest ingredients hard won from the rocky slopes of the Apennine Mountains and the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea. The classic dishes are pesto (a basil, pine-nut and garlic paste, traditionally served with a local short pasta and diced potato); focaccia (a dimpled, rustic bread served with herbs and lashing of the excellent local olive oil) and farinata (a delicious flat-bread made from chic peas with more olive oil). There is an abundance of very good seafood, complemented with very good, locally grown vegetables. The most celebrated wines of the region are dry whites (Cinque Terre and Vermentino) but Liguria also produces some good reds (Rossese di Dolceacqua, Ormeasco and Colli di Luni Rosso).

Support on the walk:

To guide you through this wonderful walk, you will receive: the Hidden Italy roadbook (an eighty-page A5 booklet that includes comprehensive daily walking notes accompanied by detailed maps, updated and revised each year): access to the exclusive Hidden Italy App to complement the roadbook (the App is downloadable to Apple and Android devices and features information about the routes: maps, GPS tracks, altimetric profiles, etc; GPS navigation on all the routes; an alert function if you stray off the track; and an emergency function); twenty-four-hour phone support from our Florence-based Operations Manager.

Please note, there is a shorter version on this walk (7 days/6 nights, Levanto to Portovenere). Click here for details.